Green Mountain Power and Efficiency Vermont nominated for collaboration award

Apr. 13, 2012

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Thatís the wish of Efficiency Vermont and Green Mountain Power Corp. when they got together to install energy-efficient LED fixtures on street lights in communities across Vermont.

Officials with Efficiency Vermont and the utility figured a lot of street lights are outdated, and the new bulbs would save towns money in electrical costs, plus reduce light pollution ó that glow you see over cities and towns at night that blocks the view of stars and other celestial bodies.

ďItís very cool not to be spilling light out into the sky and using less electricity,ď said Dorothy Schnure, spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power.

Because of their partnership, Green Mountain Power and Efficiency Vermont are nominated for the Green Mountain Environmental Leadership Awards in the collaboration division. This award goes to individuals or groups who work together to find a solution to an environmental problem.

Officials from Efficiency Vermont and Green Mountain Power say the organizations worked well together. There are up-front costs to installing LED municipal lighting, so Efficiency Vermont and GMP looked for ways to ease the financial burden.

Green Mountain Power obtained approval from the Vermont Public Service Board to use $300,000 from the Green Mountain Power Energy Efficiency Fund to help towns with the transition. Efficiency Vermont created a financial incentive plan in which those dollars are used to help offset some of the cost of converting to LED lighting.

Cabot, Harland, Marshfield, Shelburne, Waterbury and West Barnet already have changed out their lights under the program, Schnure said. Two other communities, Norwich and Vergennes, are changing the lights now, and 14 other towns and cities are in the planning process, she said. Green Mountain Power hopes to change the lights in those towns by the end of 2013.

Paul Markowitz of Efficiency Vermont said by entering into the partnership with the utility, his organization was able to reach out to more communities that might be interested in an LED switchover.

Efficiency Vermontís goal is to reduce energy consumption in Vermont, which dovetails well with the LED program, but partnering with Green Mountain Power helped because the utility has the workforce, data and expertise necessary to carry out the conversions, Markowitz said.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island are using the model that Efficiency Vermont and Green Mountain Power established, as regulators in those states consider similar programs.